In This Year - 1989

An overview of queer events that occurred in 1989.

Deltas compare against 1988

1989 in review

22 characters on air, 9 new shows, and not a single death ... so far.

1989 has 22 queer characters on air across 48 shows, up 5 from 1988. 9 series premiered and 4 wrapped, and remarkably, no one has died.

The Simpsons
The Simpsons
01

The shape of the year

Click a metric to explore it

48 shows this year

New 9 Continuing 35 Canceled 4

1979–1989

Characters on air

22 in 1989
1979 1989

By role type

Regular14
Recurring5
Guest3
  • In two or more shows 0
  • Debuting this year 12
  • Non-binary characters 0
All characters on air →

1979–1989

Characters we lost

1 in 1989
1979 1988 1989

Who we lost

No deaths recorded this year.

All the characters we lost →

1979–1989

Shows on air

48 in 1989
1979 1989

By country of origin

USA30
United Kingdom10
Germany2
West Germany2
Australia1
Other9
All shows on air →

1979–1989

New shows

9 in 1989
1979 1989

By format

TV Show8
Mini-Series1
All new shows →

1979–1989

Shows that ended

4 in 1989
1979 1988 1989

Longest runs that ended

Moonlighting5
HeartBeat1
Vale Tudo1
The Women of Brewster Place1
All canceled shows →
02

Where it came from

Where the shows come from

All 48 shows on air, by country of origin.

USA30
United Kingdom10
Germany2
West Germany2
Australia1
Other9
All countries →

Formats and roles

What kind of shows, and how central the characters are in them.

Formats

TV Show47
Mini-Series1

Roles

Regular14
Recurring5
Guest3
03

Standouts

Biggest premiere

The Simpsons

A TV Show from USA with 3 queer characters, the most of any new show this year.

Leading nation

USA

5 of this year's new shows come from USA, more than any other country.

The good news

Nobody died ... yet

No queer character deaths recorded so far this year. Long may it last.

Biggest ensemble

The Simpsons

3 queer characters on air at once, the largest cast of any show this year.

Ended this year

Moonlighting

On air 1984–1989, after 5 years it was the longest-running show to end this year.